Wednesday, May 25, 2005

I did not write anything yesterday, in solidarity with the other important journalists who were on strike.

Thinking about it, I should have posted a repeat.

This piece of writing has lots in common with the BBC, being supplied to you high-quality and advert-free. Admittedly, I don't do a £500,000 redesign every six months or employ twelve people to analyse the site stats and produce glossy reports, and the comments don't all begin 'why oh why' and aren't moderated by Anne Robinson, but aside from that it is pretty well exactly the same.

It is an anxious time for our national broadcaster. There are arguments that it is not worth funding, as the commercial sector can produce telly programmes that are just as good. People who point to the dumb stuff on ITV like 'Celebrity Love Island' are just being selective. The hard-hitting 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald' is a case in point, plus they did that 'Brideshead Revisited' thirty years ago.

But I do have a bit of a problem with them in that our local news broadcast that they put on at the end of the real bulletin is actually local news from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

For some reason, we cannot get the Norfolk news. And we cannot get digital because the church tower is in the way. This is the reality of the digital divide. There is only one thing more dull than the local news bulletin and that is somebody else's local news bulletin.

They should watch out. Because, with the onward march of technology, I would imagine that in about a year's time, this diary will actually be some form of web-based TV channel. Then people interested in Village events will get all the news they want, whenever they want it.

There will be adverts in it, of course, for organisations like the Village Shop and the Cheerful Builder. And it will probably not run all day, but I will buy in some cheap talk shows to run at other times.

There will be 'Celebrity Karaoke' from the pub next door. And 'Molewatch', with Bill Oddie. And live bowls (I could probably get Ron Atkinson on the cheap to commentate).